Are real amps on stage becoming a thing of the past?

  • Thread starter Thread starter JimAnsell
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pipboy90 said:
I want you guys to guess which of the following are modelers and which is the real amp:



Then I want you to guess when the real mic'd cab starts playing and when the IR starts playing:

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pipboy90 said:
That's an apples to oranges comparison, isn't it? It depends on what you're using as a power amp with a modeler, but if you have a good tube power amp you can totally compare the two. They will both sound equally good.
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Actually, no, your TESTS are actually the apples to oranges comparison, because you're comparing a recorded facsimile to the experience of actually playing it in the room.


I'm not anti-modeler, at all, but i think the point youre trying to make is flawed. Especially in its premise.
 
DanTravis62 said:
I don't think i'd ever use Dreidel of Filth as an example of a sick metal tone, in the first place.

I'm sure Dani makes 1990s 14 year old girls very moist.

Im sure its very convenient, to have such a small rig or whatever though.
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Come to think of it, Dani Filth does sound like a Cradle imprisoned neglected baby with a loaded diaper. Naming the band couldn’t have been easier.
 
In my tribute band we are running digital. As are most of the other tribute bands here in Houston. It just makes stage changes easier. It also allows me to cover all the effects of the original material.

In my original band I still run a tube amp and cab. It that band I work under the rule that rock n roll should be loud, raw and in your face. Just like it always has been.
 
I am in both camps. I prefer to use my tube rig (3rd Power Kitchen Sink combo and a basic pedalboard). In my main band, I still use my tube rig as our regular venues allow for it. I love this rig. I was recently hired to play with a local party band that performs at corporate events and weddings. They require direct rigs and IEMs as they do not want stage volume. I have a Kemper Stage for that gig and the Michael Britt profiles work great in the mix. He recently profiled the 3rd Power Dragon amp so it gets me relatively close in tone to my tube rig. In my opinion, it's a great time to be a guitarist with these kinds of options.
 
It’s consistency and convenience at the expense of tone IMO. I worked as a pro FOH tech for years. I understand it’s cheaper and easier on everyone, but modern day concerts sound terrible. The sound is cold. There’s no life or punch to it. The quiet stage thing is weird to me too. I get that it helps isolate the drums, especially in the overheads, but the end result isn’t a selling point to me.
 
I gig with an Orange Super Crush 100 combo which is a 100 watt solid state amp. I was on the fence back.when I got it and then saw a video of Ty Tabor from King's X playing a solid state Orange head and sounded killer.

I don't need a lot of different tones so works for me and don't do covers. If I was playing places with killer P.A. systems and had consistent gigs in a cover or tribute band, I'd probably go with a modeller. If I was to take my tune amp out for a gig, I'd want some type of backup but could be anything really. Just something to get thru the gig.

My band is not at the level of needing in ear monitors, etc. I try to keep everything bare bones so we can play at a crappy place and not worry about our equipment not working.
 
Not sure how things are going in the USA, but here in Italy tube amps are going as strong as ever. There's still a relevant usage of modelers, but much less than a couple of years ago, and it's mostly due to short on money players who seek good tones (which aren't as easy to find under 800-1000€ here) and versatility. Most local bands got back with tube amps, apparently.
 
Soundstorm said:
It’s consistency and convenience at the expense of tone IMO. I worked as a pro FOH tech for years. I understand it’s cheaper and easier on everyone, but modern day concerts sound terrible. The sound is cold. There’s no life or punch to it. The quiet stage thing is weird to me too. I get that it helps isolate the drums, especially in the overheads, but the end result isn’t a selling point to me.
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100% agree. No life to it anymore. In fact I'd go as far to say that most soundmen these days couldn't mix a real live band for shit. Years ago for three days I sat at the soundboard on my lunch break watching the Scorpions rehearse in a 18k venue. Sound was incredible, immense, tight AF and they sounded glorious. And other than the adjustments they make for a sold out house i.e once people are in the building, it sounded the same night of show. One of the best sounding shows I've ever heard was Journey in 1980, Kevin Elson who actually produced some of their albums was their live engineer, it was perfect. If you handed those keys to most modern soundman they'd crap their pants.

Those old soundmen like that are brilliant in my opinion. And honestly I'm glad my days of playing hundreds of clubs and small venues we used real amps, real drums, no modelers or IR's etc... Sometimes we'd get a guy who didn't know jack and then sometimes you'd get a soundman that would basically say do your thing. And as long as everything was within reason those guys were awesome because they understood you needed to hear yourself onstage.
 
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I gig, small-ish stages in DFW where I can still run a Splawn Comp and GZ Hellion and get good tones to FOH and feel my amp a bit behind me. Occasionally in the past, I could crank my amps (Splawn, Friedman) when I was playing bigger stages and for me, it couldn't be replaced by digital/IEMs, but that's just me.

As long as I can bring a real amp, I will. It's harder to turn up where you want to on smaller stages and get the mix right where I gig today, so that's been helped a lot by using a TN Captor X (great little unit).
 
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